this might be apocryphal, but I heard it was from the design of Conestoga wagons, which were the first to include a brake- and the lever to control the brake was on the left side (since most of us are right handed, and would hold the reins in our right hand) the brake could be controlled with the ‘free hand'(american roads being, at the time, much rougher than old world roads, and more steeply graded--so a brake was needed)

the brake lever extended a few inches past the axle, and on narrow roads, two way traffic could crash into each others brakes. So it became the habit to drive a wagon so that left sides of the vehicle would pass each other, and the driver could make sure not to hit the brake lever.

Though Conestoga wagons are associate with taming the west– Conestoga is a town in upstate NY that first made the heavy duty wagons with brakes, and they were very popular all over. and lead to us driving as we do...

> this might be apocryphal, but I heard it was from the design of Conestoga wagons, which were the first to include a brake- and the lever to control the brake was on the left side (since most of us are right handed, and would hold the reins in our right hand) the brake could be controlled with the ‘free hand' (american roads being, at the time, much rougher than old world roads, and more steeply graded--so a brake was needed)

OT:

It seems to me that the rule of the road is established almost as soon as there's traffic, which would have been long before the first Conestoga wagon. Heck, the Romans had chariots; the Egyptians had them even before that. And it wouldn't necessarily be wheeled traffic. When two people meet on a sidewalk here in the US, they each keep to the right. Otherwise, with every encounter there would be a stare-down. Any time one horse and buggy meets another, you have to have either a convention or a confrontation.

One of the stranger things I encountered in a city was in Sydney, where I saw arrows on the sidewalk (but only in one place, not throughout the city) to tell people which side of the sidewalk belonged to those going north and which to those going south, It's been many years, but I seem to recall that they had the same convention, that on a sidewalk you remained to the right.

If Max is right that Napoleon changed the whole continent from left side driving to right side driving, he must have been one powerful dude. Can you imagine what it took to convince literally millions of people to change a life-long habit on the whim of one short little Corsican?

Nga whakawhetai kia koe, tsuwm. The link you posted was very informative, especially its analysis of the different "natural" norms for different modes of travel. It even included a link to the Dyer article I remembered. Once more, your skill at locating these resources has left me awestruck.

Rhubarb said: "Ah, well," said the Inn-keeper, "the white horse in the self-same field, he knows nothin' at all about engines."

Rubbish. Absolute piffle, Rhu. The bloody horse was a bay gelding. It knew nothing about engines, but it did all the accountancy for the PIRA and most of their weapons purchases. It was called Gerry Adams. It ran at Newmarket but fell and banged its head. It became a Member of Parliament after that because it had lost most of its marbles.

Rubbish. Absolute piffle, Rhu. The bloody horse was a bay gelding. It knew nothing about engines, but it did all the accountancy for the PIRA and most of their weapons purchases. It was called Gerry Adams. It ran at Newmarket but fell and banged its head. It became a Member of Parliament after that because it had lost most of its marbles.

Now, CK, will ye be gettin' in the next round of Guiness whilst I collect me thoughts.

That Bay Geldin' ye're talkin' about, now. You're a small distance off the right track, there. It could be that you are mixing him up with Bob Geldorf - a natural confusion, to be sure, I've done as much meself - but I t'ink you're refering to a horse of that description that lived in Co Derry. And that horse did indeed lose all his marbles, not jist the most of them - which you'll agree is a most necessary t'ing for any soul to become involved in anythin' to do with the Parli-a-ment, at all. The last I heard of him was that he'd become thoroughly banjaxed and had left the PIRA for the RIRA.

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